TxDOT: Sunland Park and Resler Overpasses Will Be Torn Down

Detours, lane closures and bumper to bumper traffic have become a part of everyday life for those that live and work in West El Paso.

If you thought it couldn't get any worse, think again.

That's because next year work on the Go 10 project will include the reconfiguration of ramps and overpasses at Resler Drive and Sunland Park Drive, and that will mean the demolition and replacement of overpasses, currently targeted for 2017 and 2018, respectively.

What does that that means for west side drivers? More shut downs and detours.

TxDOT Rendering of the rebuilt and reconfigured Resler overpass

According to Bob Bielek, TxDOT's Chief Engineer in El Paso, work on the Resler Drive overpass will likely require "a weekend shutdown or maybe three days."

The reconfiguration of the Sunland Park Drive overpass, however, will be a much more arduous undertaking. Here's what Bielek told ABC-7 regarding that project:

It's not only over I-10, it's over the existing Sunland Park bridge, which will be widened as part of the Go 10 project. So, trying to take that down is probably going to exceed what we can do in a weekend, so it may be an extended period of shutting down I-10."

The future of that particular 5.75-mile I-10 corridor also includes the construction of collector-distributor lanes.

The purpose of collector-distributor lanes, or CD lanes, is to decrease the number of cars slowing, weaving and passing on I-10 in to get from Resler Drive to Sunland Park Drive, for example. Those travelers would use the CD lanes freeing up the interstate exclusively for those who just want to get from one end of the city to the other.

CD lanes will run the length of I-10 between North Mesa Street and approximately one-half mile west of Sunland Park Drive.